A group of us had a craving for mountain-loads of salty delicious meat and decided to indulge ourselves in a visit to a restaurant that serves just that. Meat, as the name suggests, is a smokehouse with a wide selection of BBQ, house made sauces, and a great selection of local beers on tap. Meat takes no reservations so seating is prioritized on a first come first serve basis. We arrived with a party of 6 at 5:30 pm on a Saturday evening, and the restaurant was already full. We had to wait an additional 40 minutes to be seated, which was expected given its popularity at the moment. While we conversed over beers in the waiting area, I admired the contemporary, clean, open layout of the restaurant and a nice use of a blue/white colour scheme.
As we were finally seated at our table, which was designed to look like a large outdoor bench, we browsed through the simple, well organized menu. The types of meat were clearly laid out as were their sides and beer selection. We wanted to try a bit of everything, so we decided to try the Meat Platter and added a half pound of extra brisket, extra order of sausage, and a few extra sides.
Let’s start with The MEAT:
Beef Brisket – Tender, slightly dry, nice crispy charred crust, and medium smoke flavour. Overall, quite enjoyable and paired extremely well with the cherry and bourbon BBQ sauces.
Pork Ribs – Tender, slightly dry, blackened outside, and medium smoke flavour. The smoke enhanced the flavour of the ribs and paired well with the spicy and bourbon sauces.
Pulled Pork – Soft, moist, and medium smoke flavour. Paired well with the bourbon sauce.
Andouille Sausage – Flavourful combination of spices and light smokiness. They were excellent and we were glad we ordered an extra serving. Best enjoyed without any sauce.
Smoked Chicken – Tender and moist inside with rich smoked outer crust. It can be had without sauce or with the spicy BBQ sauce.
Fried Chicken – Very crispy outside with a moist inside and not greasy. Definitely memorable fried chicken. Best enjoyed with no added sauce.
The Sides:
Mac & Cheese – Creamy but not cheesy enough for my taste. There was nothing special about this dish.
Garlic fries – Crispy fries with rich garlic flavour. These fries were phenomenal.
Brussels Sprouts – Shredded and served like a warm salad. This was definitely an interesting new way to enjoy brussels sprouts and it was definitely good.
Creamed Corn – Infused with subtle dill flavour. It was a little on the watery side, but still a very enjoyable side dish.
Butternut Squash Chicken Stew – Shredded chicken stewed in a creamy butternut and tomato sauce with spices of cumin and coriander. The descriptions sounds better than the dish tastes. The butternut squash was very subtle and the dish tasted more like a weak version of Indian butter chicken
Overall, the meat was good, but not outstanding. It was not too dry, not too salty, and not too overly smoked. The BBQ sauces that accompanied the meat were great though. We enjoyed the Cherry and the Bourbon sauces the most. The sides, however, were hit or miss. The Brussels Sprouts and fries were a definite hit. I wouldn’t recommend the chicken stew or the mac & cheese though. Overall, if you are looking for a place to eat BBQ meat and to relax over a few local beers with a group of friends, Meat is the place where you want to be.
Service: 3.5/5
Food: 8.0/10
Atmosphere: Contemporary, Smokehouse, Relaxed
Price: $30-40
~Thomas
fridayswiththefungs 